The One That Got Away
by tonightweareyoung
Summary: A Klaine oneshot, based heavily on Katy Perry's music video for "The One That Got Away". An older Blaine reminisces about his past. Warnings: Character death.


**The One That Got Away**

**Hello! Foreveryours5516 here. This is a one-shot based heavily on Katy Perry's music video The One That Got Away. (Go check it out!) Review if you've got time! Hope you enjoy. **

**Warnings: (Skip if you don't want a spoiler.) Character death.**

**Title and the little blurb about to come up (and a little of what Blaine says) are from her video. Song lyrics from the end are from "You Are My Sunshine", from her video too. Like I said, this is heavily based on her video.**

**Everything goes back to its rightful owners.**

**Without further ado, here's The One That Got Away.**

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><p><em><strong>The past is like a handful of dust. It filters through your fingers, disappearing little by little. I wish, for one day, I could go back. In another life, I would do things differently.<strong>_

"How was it, honey?" Sixty-five year-old Blaine heard his husband Jeremiah call as he opened the door to their house, yanking off his tie.

"It was fine," Blaine yelled back, turning away so Jeremiah couldn't see his face and hurrying up the stairs. Once in the solitude of his walk-in closet, he slipped off his polished dress shoes and carefully, gingerly almost, put them in the one empty space amidst all his other pairs. Once he was sure Jeremiah had gone for his afternoon nap, Blaine slowly made his way back downstairs, wincing as the pain in his back flared up again.

The gentle sloshing of his favorite tea pouring into a cup did nothing to calm him as he sat at the kitchen island, looking around at his and Jeremiah's house. It was perfect—spotless, just the way Jeremiah liked it. Everything was a stark, clean white, reminiscent of Kurt Hummel's old Dior Gray room.

_Kurt Hummel_.

With that thought, everything flashed back and Blaine was lost in a whole other lifetime of memories from forty long years ago.

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><p>He saw a dusty beige room with a queen-sized bed, lace curtains, and jars of paint, some dried and crusty and some moist and brightly-pigmented. He saw a tall, slender figure with hair adorably messed up, his hand moving swiftly over a rapidly filling piece of sketch paper with a paintbrush. The figure glanced up, azure eyes startling him like they always did, and glanced back down, his brush swirling across the paper to finish Blaine's hair. With one more gentle smile at Blaine, his fingers swept over the ink, blending out the colors to finish the beautiful portrait.<p>

"What is that?" Blaine asked, grinning over at Kurt.

"It's you." Kurt turned the pad over to face him, smiling hopefully at him. "Do you like it? I worked really hard on it!"

Blaine laughed in delight. The portrait was perfect. Kurt had captured Blaine's dark curls and easy grin perfectly. Then he leaned over to kiss him. "I love it," he murmured against his lips. "Thank you."

Kurt smiled through the kiss. "Let's put it up."

They stuck the portrait above the bed, stopping for quite a few kisses along the way. Blaine couldn't get enough of Kurt, running his hands through his hair, breathing in his light, musky scent that was gentle and masculine at the same time. He captured the moment in his mind, knowing he'd always remember this second of their lives together.

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><p>Now Blaine sat on his empty bed, wrinkles creasing his face as he stared off into space, remembering. He recalled every detail of that moment, wishing with all his heart he could travel back into that time, back when things were easier and life was a little happier.<p>

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><p>"I feel silly," Blaine complained as he lifted the paintbrush off his face and turned around to show Kurt his mustache.<p>

Kurt saw him and laughed, sliding on his favorite worn leather jacket. "It's okay. You look adorably silly."

Blaine rolled his eyes good-naturedly, catching Kurt's face between his hands and bringing him close for a kiss. "Not as adorable as you," he teased, pulling away. "Now do you want to do this or not?"

"Of course!" Kurt pulled Blaine close to him and stretched his arm out to take a picture of them both with his camera. They continued, doing silly faces and poses, grabbing whatever they could find to use as props.

A few hours later, they finally couldn't scavenge any more film and settled down on the couch together to examine the pictures. Blaine admired the very first one Kurt had taken of them, looking at their sparkling eyes, their big grins, their arms around each other. It was the best picture ever taken of him, because, well, he was happy.

Kurt glanced over at him, becoming serious for a moment. "Blaine, I love you."

Blaine smiled up at him, letting his face rest against his shoulder. "I love you too."

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><p>"Really, Blaine? <em>Here<em>?" Kurt grumbled as Blaine pulled him into their old high school gym, which was being rented by a group of seniors for a dance. "You brought us _here_ for a date?"

"Why not?" Blaine laughed as he saw the old people eyeing their young selves while waltzing in a stiff, creaky motion. He slipped his arms around Kurt, whirling him between a few couples and spinning him around. He grabbed a random white streamer from the assortment dangling from the ceiling and pulled it around Kurt's neck as a makeshift scarf, knowing how much he loved them. "Come on…"

"Where are we going?" Kurt breathed as Blaine led him past some chatting elderly ladies and pulled him into a storage closet.

Blaine slammed the door shut and the rest of the world instantly melted away.

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><p>Realization dawned on Blaine as he sat there stiffly, hands folded in his lap. Kurt wasn't coming back. There was no way. He was gone forever.<p>

He bowed his head down and let the sobs shake his body.

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><p>"Ready?" Kurt held the sharp point of the needle above Blaine's forearm. They were in their apartment with nothing but candlelight to sustain them. The blackout had lasted for over two hours.<p>

Blaine nodded. "A heart, remember?"

"A heart." Kurt let the needle pierce into Blaine's skin, the ink transferring instantly. It wasn't until the curve of the heart had been drawn that Blaine felt the fiery pain, shooting up his arm like a bullet. He let out a soft gasp, but managed to bite on his lip and hold it in until Kurt lifted away the needle to reveal a heart, forever stained on his skin as a reminder. He was Kurt's, and he'd always be Kurt's.

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><p>Blaine lay on the very left side of his bed, the emptiness beside him scaring him more than a monster underneath him would. Silence roared in his ears, the everyday sounds of a clock ticking and crickets chirping echoing a hundred times louder than normal.<p>

"All this money can't buy me a time machine," he whispered softly, his voice cracking. "I can't replace him with a million rings. I should've told him what he meant to me, because now I'm paying the price."

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><p>Kurt's brush flew across the massive canvas, shaping lines and curves and strokes. He had been working on the painting for so many hours now.<p>

Blaine stood in front of his own canvas, black paint dripping from his unused paintbrush, watching Kurt and wondering how he was going to beat his amazing abstract work.

Suddenly, Kurt's temper flew up. "Oh, come on! Just _paint something already_!" he cried, storming over. His hand grabbed Blaine's wrist, the one holding a paintbrush, and brought it down on the canvas in one angry streak. With a huff, he snatched his hand away and stomped back to his own canvas to finish his work.

Blaine gasped, staring at the streak which had completely ruined the canvas. He hadn't wanted this. In that moment, he grabbed a jar of red paint—the color of rich, new blood—and hurled the contents onto Kurt's canvas. Drops of red splattered onto the monotone painting, staining it ferociously.

"_What the hell?_" Kurt screamed, staring at Blaine with eyes shooting daggers. Blaine cowered as Kurt shoved him away from the painting with one angry arm.

"I—" Blaine began, but it was too late. Kurt had already grabbed his jacket and keys and had stormed out the door.

Then the apartment was silent… so very silent.

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><p>Blaine slowly steered his shiny black car out of the garage, careful not to bump into anything. Jeremiah would be angry if he scratched the new paint job. Expressionless, he drove away from his home and out onto the highway.<p>

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><p>Kurt slammed his foot down on the gas pedal—as if it would do the old car much good—and finally settled for 65mph. How long had he been driving? He had left when it was still nighttime. Now the sun was rising, rosy gold over the highway. He couldn't believe that Blaine had ruined his project—the one he'd worked on for ten hours straight. No rests, no food breaks, no nothing. And with a splash of red paint, it was destroyed, completely destroyed.<p>

The sun stabbed his eyes and he cursed, quickly pulling down the sun shield, immediately cursing again as something white fell on his head, blocking the site of one eye. He hurriedly yanked it down, and saw that it was a streamer. A white, wrinkled streamer, to be exact. In fact, it was the streamer Blaine had wrapped around his neck only a few nights ago.

He stared at it, not bothering to slow down as he rounded a bend in the road. was the only thing going through his mind. In that moment, he felt a little remorse, and his hands almost decided to swerve the wheel around and make a U-turn back to Lima.

Then he looked up, saw the rocks in the middle of the road, and swerved… but this time, it wasn't back to his hometown, it was onto the grass by the side of the road. He panicked, trying to turn back, but it was too late. His car flew over the edge of the cliff, flipped, and finally crashed onto the sharp rocks below.

_Blaine_, was his last thought before the pain overwhelmed him and everything went dark.

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Now Blaine stopped his car by the cliff and got out. By now, the road was so deserted only a few cars came along here each day. He walked to the railing, his back aching again, and stopped, surveying the endless mountains and valleys, one of which had taken away Kurt. From his open car door, the radio blared.

_**I've always loved you**_

_**And made you happy**_

_**And nothing else could come between**_

For a moment, it seemed like Kurt was beside him, and they were young again. Kurt placed his soft hand on Blaine's, thumb stroking his palm lightly. Blaine looked up into Kurt's shining blue eyes and stared into them like he would never get to see them again.

Then again, he probably wouldn't.

_**But now you've left me**_

_**To love another**_

_**You have shattered all of my dreams.**_

_**You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.**_

_**You make me happy, when…**_

When Blaine looked back again, Kurt was gone, his face just a remnant of the past.

Blaine turned around and left.

_**Sometimes you promise someone forever, but it doesn't work out that way.**_

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**Sorry for ruining the moment with an A/N! Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!**

**xx**


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